Quote:
Originally Posted by Galadriel55
Both have good endings, IMO. But. Back to my earlier point.
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Possibly. And I think that this is because I separate "sad" and "tragic" too much. There are many sad stories (any completely happy ones?  ), but only this one stands out to me as a tragedy of such magnitude (and forget about the 3 Elven Kingdoms, I'm talking about a different kind of magnitude). |
As I said, I agree that the Narn is the *most* tragic of Tolkien's tales, other than the overall Silm--and I imagine even you'd be hard-pressed to say that the tragedy of the House of Fëanor doesn't at least give the Narn a run for its money, from the fiery heights of Fëanor's oath through the near-success of the Nirnaeth to the final, desperate death of Maedhros and the wanderings of Maglor. But, putting that question aside, I agree that the Narn is
more tragic than the Fall of Gondolin or Aldarion and Erendis--but I don't think it's the only tragedy.
And part of this relates to the endings--and I will admit I don't see how you can think that Aldarion and Erendis has a "good ending." Since you say this to disqualify it from being a tragedy, I assume you mean it in the colloquial sense of a "happy ending"--but there's nothing happy about it. Yes, it ends with more of a quiet despair than the violent raging against fate that characterizes the Narn, but this is, to me, more of a question of tragic degree than of tragic nature.
The ending of "the Fall of Gondolin" is another matter. If you look at it as a hopeful story, where Tuor and Idril make it out alive with the best lucky survivors, and get to start again, kicking off the ultimately hopeful story of Eärendil, then you have grounds to call it... erm... not-a-tragedy. (I was about to say a comedy, but no one gets married.) On the other hand... as we can see in "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin," Turgon rejects Ulmo's message; the people of Gondolin do NOT mostly escape--Tuor's party is the exception. As a story by itself (and, remember, we are discussing this outside of its context as part of the wider Silmarillion), Tuor and Ulmo's hopes from the beginning of the story have been dashed.
So... again, I agree that The Fall of Gondolin is not
as tragic as the Narn--but I don't think it holds that the Narn is the
only tragedy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Galadriel55
To answer some of your questions, I don't think Of Aldarion and Erendis andOf Tuor come anywhere close to the grandeur of tragedy in the Narn. They have their own grandeur, but it is not as tragic. "Tuor" is not written in the "right" language for tragedy.
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Now... I have to ask... what
is the right language for tragedy?